Written by Sarahanne Vaughan and Anne R. Yuengert From Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP on Dec 9, 2025
Recently the Department of Labor and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued multiple items on national origin discrimination and anti-American bias. These materials signal that the agencies consider any national origin preference — including any actions favoring nonimmigrant visa holders — to be discrimination. Additionally, they make clear that multiple agencies view anti-American actions as an enforcement priority.
EEOC’s Education Materials
On November 19, the EEOC issued educational materials on national origin discrimination. These materials emphasize that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protects all workers from national origin discrimination, including American workers. The primary material is a one-page document titled “Discrimination Against American Workers Is Against The Law.” This document explicitly states “[n]ational origin discrimination can include preferring foreign workers, including workers with a particular visa status, over American workers.” It then lists examples of actions that could be “discrimination against Americans”:
- Job advertisements “that say the employer prefers or requires applicants from a particular country or with a particular visa status.”
- “A company terminating American workers who are on the ‘bench’ between job assignments at a much higher rate than employees who are visa guest workers.”
- “An employer making it more difficult for applicants from one national origin to apply for positions,” such as “subjecting U.S. workers to more laborious application methods than H-1B visa holders during the PERM labor certification process.”
- Harassment based on national origin.
- Retaliation against an employee for objecting to national origin discrimination in the workplace.
Additionally, the one-pager explicitly states that customer preference, labor costs, and the belief that workers from certain countries are more productive “do not excuse an employer’s decision to hire foreign workers over American workers.”
DOL and EEOC Partnership
Only five days later, on November 24, 2025, the DOL and the EEOC announced a partnership under the ongoing Project Firewall (discussed in our previous blog post). According to the announcement, Project Firewall “ensures employers prioritize qualified Americans when hiring and includes enforcement actions to hold employers accountable if they abuse the H-1B visa program.” The Department of Labor stated it would “continue working with our federal partners to put an end to bad practices and safeguard opportunities for American workers” by “sharing data, clarifying employer obligations, and aligning enforcement tools.”
Takeaways
These actions make clear that federal agencies will be working together to combat national origin discrimination — specifically, discrimination against American workers. The announcements particularly emphasize discrimination based on visa status or a preference for non-American candidates. The DOL-EEOC partnership may result in multi-agency actions on the same issue (for example, an EEOC investigation of a charge of discrimination proceeding alongside a DOL investigation addressing H‑1B misuse).
Given the government’s focus on these issues, now is a good time to assess your hiring practices. For example, make sure there is no perceived preference for nonimmigrant visa holders. Additionally, be sure to include information on national origin discrimination in any discrimination training, emphasizing that all nationalities, including Americans, are protected.
